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52 Articles

Tell me a story …

Marketers and ministers know this: If you want your audience engaged and your point well made, if you hope they’ll remember, then tell a story. Don’t lecture or preach. Tell a good story. To those who look and listen, houses tell stories about their builders and occupants. The oldest houses embody more stories. Then there are houses “right out of a storybook,” the eccentric ones widely known as Storybook Style houses, which spin a tale of Hollywood sets, American soldiers home from Europe, and medieval fantasies. Not everything can be a fairytale, of course. A restoration article, for example, must get down to business: this material, this tool, this process. Tell me how to build a stoop or porch steps, though, and I’ll tell you why. Because when you sit on the…

Tell me a story …

ARTS & CRAFTS HOMES For OHJ readers who enjoyed its sister publication, Arts & Crafts Homes and the Revival: Regular coverage with new material is available at the ACH website. Find a deep archive of bungalow and Craftsman house tours, new homes by revival designers, period inspired kitchens and baths, and travel destinations for the Arts & Crafts aficionado. (Read Brian Coleman’s new tour of Scotland, and visit the Roycroft Campus.) Find how-to, know-how, and repair articles. The Products & Services Directory is well-organized and illustrated, pointing the way to appropriate materials and today’s artisans. And while you’re there browsing, sign up for the free editorial e-newsletter that’s delivered twice a month. Arts & Crafts Homes will publish an annual “bookazine” print issue and directory, on sale Oct. 9. If you read…

Storybookish Whimsies

1. GOTHIC VIGOR Accented with scrolls, medallions, and fleur-de-lis brackets, the Calandra chandelier is lit by six faux amber candle lights mounted on spiked arms. The gilded tobacco finish adds Gothic ambience. Measuring 36" wide, the total suspended length can range from 4' to 8'. $4,491. Meyda Tiffany, (800) 222-4009, meyda.com 2. COTTAGE ARCH No Storybook cottage is complete without a round-top door, especially if it’s this raised-panel style in African mahogany. Clear insulated glass panes create another arch. $5,000 and up. Vintage Doors, (800) 787-2001, vintagedoors.com 3. DREAMY DISTORTION No. 7 in the Artisan Series, this stepped display bookcase is unconventional. It's 54" high x 30" wide x 16" deep. Each made-to-order bookcase comes in more than 30 paint and stain colors. $1,650. Dust Furniture, (219) 464-9100, dustfurniture.com 4. DANCING MICE “If there are mice in…

Storybookish Whimsies

What Is Old Is New Again

Many architects, kitchen designers, and cabinetmakers are turning back the clock when it comes to a kitchen’s aesthetic. Their guides, of course, are historical kitchens and baths. And while these designers don’t advocate forgoing modern plumbing and technology, they do champion thoughtful spaces that are ultra functional. For a historic Victorian mansion, architect Spence Kass went to great lengths to update the spaces while offering a historical feel to the project. The kitchen and master bathroom were the prime focus but, as with many house projects, the scope grew to touch the entire building. The kitchen and bath are just two small examples of what a talented architect and expert craftspeople can do to antique homes. When a couple wanted to preserve historic precedence in their home, they called Patricia…

What Is Old Is New Again

1. TAKE A PLUNGE Gracefully sized like fountains, these saltwater plunge pools come ready to install with an engineered concrete shell, tiled interior, variable speed pump and filter, and LED pool light. The standard size measures 7' x 13'. $21,750. Soake Pools, (603) 749-0665, soakepools.com 2. SPRING FORWARD Inspired by steel spring chairs first made in the 1940s, the Gracie chair uses a simple cantilevered design that allows the occupant to gently bounce cares away. They’re offered in sets of two, in four playful colors. $269. Crosley Furniture, (800) 815-4796, crosleyfurniture.com 3. CALL THE JETSONS Perched on tapered, Atomic Age legs, the Astrofire firepit can be configured to burn wood or propane/natural gas. Crafted from hand-rolled 14-gauge steel, it comes in seven colors. The 22"-wide pit has a tabletop option. $1,450–$1,750. Boxhill, (520) 909-6109, shopboxhill.com 4.…

MOBILE, AL / $440,000 A 1905 Arts & Crafts Bungalow on brick piers has a pyramidal roof, a broad, gas-lit front porch with large square columns, original tiled fireplaces, stained glass, period woodwork, and a back porch with a swing. RANDOLPH, NJ / $679,000 Tuttle Cooperage is a historic barrel-maker’s house dating as early as 1797, but with later additions. The oldest section of the National Register house is a summer kitchen in the English basement, with old brick floors, ceiling beams, a walk-in fireplace with a bee-hive oven, and iron cranes for cooking over the hearth. NEW ORLEANS, LA / $759,900 Raised basements were essential for homes in low-lying areas. With a deep bracketed roofline, this raised Italianate cottage features floor-to-ceiling windows, heart-pine floors, a grand arch between parlors, and period mantels and doors. APEX,…

AN OLD NANTUCKET HOUSE

On Nantucket Island off the Cape Cod coast in Massachusetts, quaint cobblestone streets and sandy beaches make for a booming real-estate market. The high turnover threatens the island’s more than 800 pre-Civil War era homes. Every year, more are gutted and their original building materials carted away for disposal. Preservation is an uphill battle. So I’m happy to share a successful rescue. Esta-Lee and Harris Stone set out to find a historic home that needed restoration and protection. The 1809 house they fell in love with was in serious need of repair. It had most recently been a boardinghouse, and many elements had faded or been covered up. The very foundation required repointing and new stucco. Fireplaces and transoms had been boarded up; floors were dirty, scratched, and dull; plaster walls…

AN OLD NANTUCKET HOUSE

Editor-at-Large Russell Versaci is a residential architect who has spent two decades designing traditional houses. He attended the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1973 and received his graduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Arts in 1979. He has designed traditional country houses, cottages, and farmhouses, as well as restorations and significant additions to period homes. Versaci is also the author of Creating a New Old House and Roots of Home (Taunton Press). Editor-at-Large Russell Versaci is a residential architect who has spent two decades designing traditional houses. He attended the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1973 and received his graduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Arts in 1979. He has designed traditional country houses, cottages, and…

The Perfect Pantry

An essential element in late 19th-century houses of the well-to-do, the butler’s pantry was the spot to store linens, china, glassware, and silver, as well as a place for servants to plate dinner for the wellheeled homeowners. The room—always placed near the kitchen and dining room to buffer the family and their guests from the bustle of the kitchen—was essentially a storage closet for everything meal related. In fact, the word pantry comes from the Anglo-French, panetrie, which means “bread room,” and the Medieval Latin panataria, “room of a servant in charge of food or bread.” These Victorian-era pantries often had more complex storage space and tools than the kitchen: ice chests, safes for flatware, knife cleaners and sharpeners, warming ovens, and copper or German silver sinks. But the pantry’s…

The Perfect Pantry

The VIEW THROUGH THE GLASS

A HARBOR VIEW The owners of a smallish Second Empire house on Boston’s North Shore had requested a sitting area off the new master bedroom on the second floor, preferably with a beautiful prospect. Architect Mat Cummings answered with a cupola-like tower that includes broad banks of operable sash windows that not only bring light into the suite, but also afford a coveted vista. “The tower has beautiful views of the water over the rooftops of Marblehead Harbor,” Cummings says. Crowning each bank of windows is an elliptical arch, overlaid with a grid of simulated divided lights—a nod to high-style window details dating to late 19th-century Queen Anne and Shingle Style dwellings. The windows are purposely different from those used elsewhere in the renovation, though they maintain the essence of the historic…

The VIEW THROUGH THE GLASS

Small Space, Big Style

A “powder room” may sound a bit stuffy, but these little half-baths can be great, confined canvasses for beautiful, strategic design. These rooms are usually on the first floor and intended primarily for use by guests, which means they’re typically decorated more formally—or at least more richly or intricately—than other bathrooms in a house. Above all, designing such small rooms with such limited contents— a toilet, a vanity, a sink, a mirror— requires savvy techniques to maximize the appearance of space. “It’s an issue of scale,” says Thomas Catalano, principal of Catalano Architects. “It’s trying to get the design of the furniture piece and the details to fit the scale of the room.” In one of his designs, a light-filled room wallpapered in horizontal stripes, he and his team adapted…

Small Space, Big Style

Those Aren’t Doors, They’re Windows!

Long neglected and in disrepair, the 1924 Mediterranean-style villa in a landmarked historic district was otherwise perfect for an extended family looking to convert it into two separate living spaces. A key element in the work, designed by David Heide Design Studio, was returning the building’s signature arched casement windows to their original size and shape. In the more traditional downstairs unit, the team recast the dining room space as a new, period-appropriate kitchen, linking it directly to the living room. The passage is a stunning set of arched, double French doors with wavy Art Nouveau muntins near the top, found during the careful “forensic demolition” of the house. A small addition—the breakfast room flooded with light—replaced the dining room eliminated by request of the clients. Heide likes to convert any single-glazed…

Those Aren’t Doors, They’re Windows!

1. Soothing Soak The Bath Works offers the St. Lyon cast alloy freestanding soaking tub with a sustainably sourced solid wood plinth. Price $10,150. For more information, visit thebathworks.com. 2. Seeing Double Kohler’s Damask 42" vanity is twice as good when there are two in the bath. For more information, visit kohler.com. 3. Marble Marvel Waterworks offers a turn-of-the-20thcentury sink in their extensive bath collection—the universal two-leg single washstand with marble sink and slab offers charm and sophistication to the lav. For more information, visit waterworks.com. 4. Golden Luxury Sunrise Specialty offers timeless elegance for the bath with clawfoot tubs and more. For more information, visit sunrisespecialtycom. 5. Handsome Bath Waterworks offers a plethora of bath fixtures and tubs to suit the most discerning homeowner looking for period style. For…

1. Glass Globe Remains Lighting’s Sorenson 18 Lantern references a form of historical factory lighting where the glass was netted for safety. The thick clear mouth-blown glass is wrapped in a handwoven wire fabric. $2,085. For more information, visit remains.com. 2. Old School Styles Rejuvenation offers pendants perfect for the historically inspired kitchen. Shown here are Rose City, East Moreland, and Tolson pendants. For more information, visit rejuvenation.com.…

NOT SO MATCHY-MATCHY

Consider that the main part of the house has Federal windows with large glass panes and thin muntins. A boxy addition at the front is a full-on Arts & Crafts sunroom with folding French doors and leaded- and stained-glass windows. The old kitchen, with crumbling vinyl flooring and appliances that had stopped working, had no windows at all. While doing exploratory work in the kitchen area, Cummings discovered that a dropped ceiling concealed evidence of an old timber-frame barn with large trussed beams. The architect decided to expose them and add more where sections were damaged or missing, establishing a farmhouse theme. To bring light into the kitchen and the adjacent sitting room, he used a mix of divided-light windows: sash windows in the kitchen over the sink and taller casements in…

NOT SO MATCHY-MATCHY

art of concealment

David Heide Design Studio completely reconceived the wall, deepening the existing arched recess to accommodate a new, period-style buffet with art-glass cabinets and a beveled-mirror backsplash. Heide replaced the windows over the buffet with a three-panel art-glass window featuring clear and pastel translucent and bull’s-eye glass. Period double sconces on either side of the triptych play up light and the sparkle of the existing crystal chandelier. All of the extra glazing reflects and amplifies the light coming into the room. While the rhythms of the buffet add another three-dimensional element, Heide further enhanced the room’s architectural lines with a favorite paint palette: soft cinnamon brown on walls and pale rose on the ceiling. “It makes the white on the woodwork pop,” says Heide. “You see the architecture in a different way…

art of concealment

Color in the Kitchen

1. Wine Cooler Go retro with your selection of wine refrigeration from Elmira Stoveworks Northstar collection. For more information, visit elmirastoveworks.com. 2. Pretty Cool Northstar adds fun and nostalgia to the ice box in a variety of colors. For more information, visit elmirastoveworks.com. 3. Buttercup Yellow Elmira Stove Works North Star 1956 All-Gas Retro Range in buttercup yellow. $4495. For more information, visit elmirastoveworks.com. 4. Nice Slice Smeg’s retro toaster offers curved and compact postwar designs. For more information, visit smegusa.com.…

Color in the Kitchen

A New Sun Parlor, 1930

The ‘Capistrano’ outdoor daybed from Serena & Lily has a Twenties Empire Revival feel. It’s made of hand-wrapped resin “rattan” on an aluminum frame and measures about 80" long by 42.5" deep. MSRP $2,498. serenaandlily.com Create your own Jazz Age and Depression-era lampshades with wire frames (their design or custom) from Smith and Company in Los Angeles. Many styles, priced about $12–30 apiece depending on size and complexity. customwireproductions.com/arowire-lighting-collection The Marvin Ultimate French Casement opens like a French door, with no center post for an unobstructed view—just like the windows in the sun parlor. Various finish, casing, glass, and hardware options, with custom pricing. marvin.com COURTESY ARCALUS ARCHIVE; (MARVIN) SANFORD L. KRAEMER / GRATER ARCHITECTS…

A New Sun Parlor, 1930

Classic Cookers

1. Victorian Aesthetic Elmira Stove Works ranges are custom crafted—choose the model, color, options, and accents that suit your personal style and your cooking style. Ranges offer several hundred combinations of styles, colors, and features, and will be the centerpiece of your kitchen. For more information, visit elirastoveworks.com. 2. Early Innovation AGA is the world’s first heat-storage cooker by Dr. Gustaf Dalen. The AGA is offered today in an array of colors and offers an energy-efficient solution to the heart of the home. For more information, visit agamarvel.com. 3. Art in the Kitchen La Cornue celebrates the French culinary tradition in the most artistic way. Albert Dupuy developed the vaulted oven to usher heat around food, and the result is a handsome, efficient masterpiece for the kitchen. For more information,…

Classic Cookers

Revival Kitchen of the Bungalow Era

This cozy kitchen is in a “Hapgood house” in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey. About 500 such Craftsman-inspired homes built by developer Herbert J. Hapgood after 1911 survive. Today’s owners, Suzanne and Rick Solch, purchased theirs about 20 years ago. At the time, “the house didn’t look especially Arts & Crafts,” Suzanne says; remodeling had taken away much of the integrity from the stuccoed 1913 house. After lots of work—stripping fireplace brick, replacing the stair rail, removing down lights in the living-room ceiling—the Solches furnished the house in true Craftsman style. For the use of textiles and window treatments, they looked to Gustav Stickley’s advice from his magazine The Craftsman (1901–1916). In the kitchen, windows are fitted with very practical roller shades, stenciled in paint. (They’re from the Handwerk Shade Shop: thehandwerkshop.com.) The…

Revival Kitchen of the Bungalow Era

Cupboards and Catches

1. Perfectly Polished Crown City’s oval knob cupboard latches offer an elegant option to a butler’s pantry. For more information, visit crowncity.com. 2. Classic Cupboards Crown Point Cabinetry handcrafts quality all-wood custom cabinetry in period styles for the kitchen, bath, pantry and more. For more information, visit crown-point.com. 3. Historic Hinge Heritage Metal Works create H and HL hinges for kitchen cabinetry, which are perfect for a vintage look. For more information, visit heritage-metalworks.com. 4. Victorian Inspired Crown City’s cast-iron Windsor cupboard latches add nostalgia and history to kitchen cabinetry. For more information, visit crowncity.com.…

Cupboards and Catches

No bubble-dome skylights these! Metal and glass skylights and roof lanterns—which look like mini conservatories—may be familiar rooftop sights in London, New York, and beyond. They bring light into a stairwell or a windowless bathroom. The old ones were fitted with clear, pressed, or colored glass. Today, Glass House makes custom skylights in classic shapes: hipped, pyramid, octagonal, segmented, and flat. Choose a wood-framed skylight clad in copper, or an aluminum-framed skylight in a dark bronze or color powder-coat finish. Low-E safety glass is standard. Motorized venting is available. Replacement skylights can be made to fit the existing rough opening. Glass House even offers copper caps and ball-and-spire finials. The company also fabricates conservatories, solariums, and greenhouses. Glass House, (860) 974-1665, glasshouseusa.com…

Victorian Beauty

FOR THE VICTORIANS, KITCHENS AND BATHROOMS WEREN’T CONSIDERED DESIGN-WORTHY SPACES. These utilitarian rooms were just a side note to the grand, sweeping living rooms and ballrooms that visitors saw and socialized in. When Spence Kass, the principal of the architectural firm Kass & Associates in Philadelphia, was asked to step in for a renovation of the George C. Thomas House, a historic Victorian townhouse in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square, the homeowners’ list of projects was short and sweet: a redo of the kitchen and master bathroom. Three years later, Kass and a team of experts and artisans had completed a renovation of the historic Victorian mansion that ultimately touched almost every interior space. “The kitchen and master bathroom were the prime focus,” Kass says. “The project evolved.” Today the 1874 doublewide…

Victorian Beauty

Kitchen Reinvention

On Braulio Casas Architects’ website, there is the standard link to “About Us,” and when selected, takes you to a simple mission statement that reads: “Braulio Casas Architects is an award winning architectural firm deeply committed to offering a full spectrum of design services including interior design. We specialize in fine well-crafted towns, neighborhoods, and buildings of all types especially custom homes.” It is short and sweet—revealing the nature of what great architectural design is: thoughtful and refined. “We focus on two things in our renovation and design process,” explains Casas. “Listening to the client as closely as possible, and trying to hear what they don’t say.” By doing so, Casas has found it enables his clients to describe a new narrative for the home they have grown to love.…

Kitchen Reinvention

WELCOME TO GRACEFUL STOOPS & ENTRY STEPS

Guidelines for Construction At a minimum, a stoop consists of a single step of natural stone, poured concrete, concrete block or other masonry, or wood. The most historical materials are stone and wood, with concrete becoming more prevalent in the 20th century. For comfort and safety, make the stoop wider than the door. Any stoop with three or more steps should be securely anchored to the house, have at least one railing or side wall, and terminate in a landing in front of the door. Taller stoops should have railings on both sides. A wood stoop with multiple steps should rest on a poured concrete pad or piers, so that no wood touches the ground. Building a Wood Stoop Constructing a stoop from durable lumber requires basic carpentry skills, a knowledge…

WELCOME TO GRACEFUL STOOPS & ENTRY STEPS

Traditional Tastes

For Maureen and John Moriarty— parents to four boys, three of whom still live at home—redoing the kitchen in their 1890s Bostonarea home was a big step that was carefully considered. Ever-protective of their Colonial Revival’s charm, especially since John has lived in the house since the age of 10, they wanted an update but not the jarring intrusion of a brand new, modern space. Knowing that the project required thoughtful attention to historic precedence, they turned to Patricia Mc-Donagh, a friend of Maureen’s from childhood but, more importantly, an accomplished interior designer known for her success with new-old projects. They put their outdated kitchen, which hadn’t been touched for at least 40 years, in McDonagh’s hands, tasking her with delivering a brighter, more cook-friendly hub for their busy family.…

Traditional Tastes

Planning a stoop

STEP TERMS NOSING The projection of a tread beyond the riser, usually rounded. PITCH LINE An imaginary line that runs at an angle along the front of the nosings of the treads. RISER The vertical element of the step between treads. RUN The total horizontal travel of a staircase or steps. STRINGER Inclined side member that serves as both carriage and face, also called a horse. Open stringers are more common than routed, closed stringers for porch steps. TREAD The horizontal top of a step. UNIT RISE The vertical distance between one tread and the next. UNIT RUN Depth of a tread (distance of travel per step) excluding nosing. ILLUSTRATION BY ROB LEANNA; BILL CIGLIANO (OPP.)…

Planning a stoop

CUTTING THE STRINGERS

Once you have all the rise and run measurements, use them to mark out the first stringer. For open stringers: Choose a 2" x 12" piece of rot-resistant red cedar, pressure-treated pine, or redwood with as few knots as possible. The stringer should follow the desired pitch line of the stair, and the cuts will follow in zigzag fashion to follow the rise and depth of each step. • Lay out the cuts by placing a framing square on the stringer board; mark and check the positions of all before making any cuts. Align the blade and tongue of the framing square so that the rise and run dimensions fall on the edges of the stock. Once you’ve marked the first planned cuts, slide the square along to lay out the…

Kitchen Revival

IT IS ALWAYS A BALANCING ACT UNDERTAKING WHAT CHRIS DALLMUS DESCRIBES AS A “RESTORATIVE RENOVATION.” THIS TYPE OF PROJECT INVOLVES TRANSFORMING AN OLD HOUSE TO FIT MODERN FAMILY LIFE WHILE MAINTAINING ITS HISTORIC AESTHETIC. “Essentially you’re adapting a portion of an old house to work with the way we presently live in our homes,” says Chris Dallmus, AIA, LEED AP, principal and president of Design Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In the case of a kitchen renovation project he did in Wellesley, it meant opening up a series of tight spaces into a more open floor plan while recreating original interior details using century-old blueprints. Boston architect Benjamin Proctor designed the Georgian Colonial Revival house in 1918 for Roger W. Babson, founder of Wellesley’s Babson College, with accommodations for a domestic…

Kitchen Revival

Seaside Kitchen

Kitchen designer George Tobey gets tired of designing allwhite kitchens. The vast majority of his clients at Main Street at Botellos Home Center want that pure, bright look, but he knows that adding a little color—even subtle shades— can bring a whole new life to one of the most central rooms in a house. “Every time you get a variation of color, it adds warmth to the space,” he says. The use of color is one of his favorite things about a kitchen he recently designed in New Seabury, an area of Mashpee, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. The summer home, constructed by Bayswater Development LLC, overlooks Nantucket Sound, an aspect that the homeowners were eager to accentuate. Outside the windows, the water— cool gray and sparkling azure depending on the…

Seaside Kitchen

New stoops that rise 30" or more off the ground must comply with building codes regarding rail height, typically about 34" to 36" from the front of the tread. If any parts of a stoop that is original to the house are still present, by all means use them as a template for rebuilding, especially with architecturally important components such as top rails, spindles, and post caps. You’re in luck if there’s an existing concrete platform underneath what will be the bottom of the stair run. If it’s in good condition, use it as a support for the bottom posts. Anchor the posts to the concrete with concrete screws. If the slab is missing or in poor condition, remove it and pour a new slab. It’s important that the post at…

ANCHORING and Skirting

To anchor a stoop with multiple steps to the house, fasten a 2" x 8" board to the faceplate below the door with large galvanized deck screws. Reinforce the bottom of the steps with a 2" x 8" board that runs between the exterior stringers. Butt any interior stringers into this support. To conceal open areas underneath the stoop but allow for ventilation, add skirting. A skirting apron is typically composed of latticed panels that are hung or hinged to the framing. Lay a bed of crushed stone underneath to keep wood from touching the ground.…

ANCHORING and Skirting

SAFER TREATED WOOD Download free plans for raised planters made with Wolmanized Outdoor Wood. Treated with an advanced copper-azole preservative, Outdoor Wood is an environmentally friendly, long-lived choice for almost any outdoor structure, from above-ground decks to below-grade retaining walls. Pricing varies. Lonza Wood Protection, (404) 279-6953, wolmanizedwood.com QUICK FIX Retard the spread of light rust on iron railings, lampposts, mailboxes, or patio furniture with Extend rust inhibitor. The fast-drying, milky-white latex formula in the 10.25-ounce aerosol can also acts as a primer for paint or other finishes. $5.99. Loctite, (800) 624-7767, loctiteproducts.com THE REAL McCOY This old-school mill has been producing quarter-sawn and vertical grain clapboards from spruce and Eastern white pine for generations. Each square-edged board ends in a taper to create crisp architectural lines. Clear and extra-clear wood: $.81 to $1.52 per…

Finishing Touches for the Season

HOUR Install a Flower Box Galvanized steel brackets are the sturdiest option for attachment, but wood and wrought iron are also good choices. For double-hung windows, measure 1" down from under the sill on one side of the frame. For out-swing windows, measure 6" to 8" down. Mark and repeat on the other side. Align the top of the bracket with the mark. For wood siding, position the top screw hole toward the bottom of the clapboard. Then mark both brackets’ screw holes. Repeat on the other side. (The window may not be level, so don’t use it as a guide.) Create a pilot hole with a countersink drill bit and fill it with a bit of caulk to seal the hole. Then attach the bracket with 3"-long galvanized decking screws. For…

Finishing Touches for the Season

Vintage Garden Chairs Rid of Rust

When our neighbors offered us two vintage metal garden chairs, which, it turned out, they couldn’t use or return to the seller, my husband and I jumped at the chance to add them to furnishings we’d collected for our country home. The chairs had a beautiful patina; I loved the many shades of green and turquoise shining through the finish. The chairs were pretty rusty, however, so I needed to clean them up, though I hoped to preserve most of the original paint. The goal was to seal them to protect them from outdoor weather without losing patina. At the same time, we wanted to make sure no one would come away with green streaks on their pants after sitting on the chairs. I tackled this project with my friend Sarah. Not…

Vintage Garden Chairs Rid of Rust

PROTECTING METAL

OSPHO When applied, this rust converter and primer stabilizes metal surfaces before painting. Applying or dipping rusty metal into a bath of Ospho (ospho.com) causes iron oxide (rust, in other words) to chemically change into iron phosphate, a dark, inert, hard surface that is paint ready. LINSEED OIL If the metalwork is small and can be removed from its setting (old doorknobs or castiron sash pulleys, for example), give the pieces a warm bath in a mixture of water and a linseed-oil soap, such as Allback (from Solvent Free Paint, solventfree paint.com). A retired slow cooker comes in handy. Add enough water to cover the rusty parts, then put in a few squirts of the linseed-oil soap. Mix with a stirring stick, turn the slow cooker to high, and allow the parts to…

GENTLE TO VIGOROUS

Whether painted or unpainted, rusty metalwork responds well to scrubbing with various grades of steel wool, or from wire-brushing, sanding, or grinding. Whatever the method used, you must immediately seal the metal with a rust inhibitor to prevent rust from returning. LIGHT SURFACE RUST Start with fine, 000 or 0000 steel wool, polishing the surface until smooth. MODERATE RUST Use a more aggressive steel wool (0 or 00), then finish with a finer grade of steel wool. HEAVY RUST Use a wire brush to knock off the oxidation, or—depending on the shape of the metalwork—sand or grind it off. A smooth surface responds well to sanding with progressively finer grits of sandpaper (80, 100, 150). If there’s a lot of metal to sand (as on a cast iron fence), try an angle grinder, which uses tougher…

STUFF AN ELECTRICIAN SCREWED UP

“I was thrilled to uncover an early, hand-pegged girder under the siding. But someone else had gotten there first.” Needing access to floor joists during renovation, we removed some of the siding on our Greek Revival house—and found an original, 180-year-old structural girder. Just inches away from the antique pegs, however, someone in the past had cut a crude channel along the side to run electrical cable in the notch. We think it might have happened in the 1960s to power a window air conditioner (no longer needed). THE FIX Although it’s code-legal to run wiring through notches and holes in beams and girders, it has never been legal (or safe) to run the notch down the thickness of the beam. Nor has reusing wiring that no longer meets modern electrical codes. To begin,…

STUFF AN ELECTRICIAN SCREWED UP

Barnwood in a Cabin

Marianne and Jon grew up in Norwegian ski country not far from Oslo, and had long dreamed of owning a seter—a simple farm cabin. They found an old timber cabin set in the midst of a forest, in an off-the-grid place with no road or running water. It was rundown. Working with architect Benedicte Sund–Mathisen, who is Marianne’s sister, they fixed up the cabin, extended it, and added some necessary amenities. The look, though, remains appropriately rustic. Kitchen cabinets and shelving are made from reclaimed barnwood bought from a farm further north. The leather pulls were made from a vintage sled harness. Walls and counters are concrete. Vintage touches include industrial signal wall lights and a brass backsplash behind the cooktop, treated with acid for an aged look. how it happens 1. EARLY…

Barnwood in a Cabin

Miter Joints Outdoors

WRONG WAY POOR USE OF MITERING Laying floorboards that turn a corner by using a series of miter joints may seem easier, but after a few seasons the joints will have opened. Open joints expose a great deal of end grain, which wicks moisture and leads to wood failure. Similarly, a mitered corner on fascia board will open and be not only unsightly but also an invitation to water incursion and insects. RIGHT WAY BUTT AND HERRINGBONE Although the miter joint is designed to eliminate end-grain exposure, mitering sometimes makes matters worse. On wood porches, for example, multiple opportunities seem to call for miter joints. But when floorboards turn a corner, the better option is to interleave boards in a herringbone pattern using multiple butt joints. These are less likely to leave a gap at…

Miter Joints Outdoors

ASK OLD HOUSE JOURNAL

Q: My outdoor porch has a concrete floor and steps. It was painted, probably 50 years ago, with brick-red paint, and repainted more than once with latex paint, which did not adhere well. The red paint has worn in places, but appears extremely durable. The Rust-Oleum concrete paint stripper and 3000 psi power washer I used to remove the latex did not faze the original paint. I would rather repaint with a more subdued color. How can I remove the old paint or get latex to adhere? — Neil Wolf, via email A: The answer is not as obvious as I thought. Concrete itself presents adhesion problems, because it's porous and alkaline, and walking surfaces are especially problematic. New, unfinished concrete is easy enough to deal with given modern products. Previously…

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Home Sweet gnome

WIND YOUR WAY along the steep hillside flanking Griffth Park in Los Angeles, and you’ll encounter streets with old-world names like Inverness, Cromwell, Aberdeen, and Dundee. It seems fitting that, after rounding a curve on Glendower Avenue, you stumble on a house straight out of a fairy tale. In a city known for make-believe and artifice, this Storybook home built in 1923 is a touchstone to which all others of the style may be compared. Its studied imperfections are perfectly imperfect. Compared with its upright neighbors, the home is wonderfully bonkers, to echo Alice. Indeed, a few years ago the current owners installed a new weathervane: a witch on a broomstick, which is very appropriate, though installed straight and plumb, unlike anything else on the house. Fate intervened. A ferocious windstorm…

Home Sweet gnome

20th CENTURY STORYBOOK HOMES

“A demand rose for homes that would reflect the status of the stars and … fantasy. … Unlike the sedate manors of bankers and businessmen, these houses would be fanciful monuments to the pathologically flamboyant.”—ARROL GELLNER in Storybook Style Fairytale, Hansel & Gretel, Storybook: These are names commonly given to a whimsical style that enjoyed only a brief moment but never ceases to bring a warm smile to those who encounter it. It appeared in the Los Angeles area in the early 1920s, reached its height of popularity just before the Depression, and then it was gone, save for a few isolated examples. The style is theatrical and often humorous. The houses are unusually well crafted, of brick and stucco, shingles and even thatch—all artistically rendered to suggest great age. DID YOU…

20th CENTURY STORYBOOK HOMES

• FANTASY What distinguishes a Storybook from a Revival house is exaggeration. Look for a turret and rubble stone or clinker brick and a catslide roof, plus such nonfunctional whimsy as fake dovecotes and castle-like crenellations. • EUROPEAN DETAILS Look for Spanish ironwork, French Norman towers, Tudor half-timbering, round-arch doors, rolled-eave “thatched” roofs and jerkin-head gables, medieval stained glass, and casement windows. • FALSE AGING The roof ridge may be swaybacked, the rough-troweled stucco “peeling” to reveal rubble stone, the shingles laid in irregular waves. Sometimes walls purposely were built out-of-square and out-of-plumb. • MANIPULATION Many of these houses have wings and gables, step-backs and add-ons that both suggest they grew over the ages and that hide their true size. Steep roofs, oversize and undersize elements manipulate scale.…

STORYBOOK TODAY

design STORYBOOK HOMES storybookhomes.com Picturesque designs in a Storybook Collection, custom home design; working plans, specifications. doors/windows BELISLE ANCESTRAL DOORS & WINDOWS belisle windows.com All-wood doors & windows including casements in historic French styles. CARRIAGE HOUSE DOOR CO carriagedoor.com Garage doors & driveway gates in Victorian & Old World styles. THE HYLAND STUDIO hylandstudio.com Glass studio/restoration firm offers old-world styles, diamond-pane windows. THE IRON DOOR STORE theirondoorstore.com Custom iron doors in Craftsman, Spanish, Italian & “Tolkien” styles. specialties CRS ROOFING ARTISANS roofingartisans.com Design & installation of steam-bent or wavecoursed roofing (“wood thatch”); also specialists in slate, metal, cedar, copper roofs. HANS LIEBSCHER COPPER WORKS hanscopper.com Old-world roofs, gutters, domes, ornament. HESS ORNAMENTAL IRON hessiron.com Design & handcraft of iron & brass railings, fences. IRON LOCK IMPORTS ironlockimports.com Medieval-style iron hardware forged in the Austrian Alps. KING ARCHITECTURAL METALS kingmetals.com Fanciful balusters, ornamental…

Rebirth of a ca. 1830 Farmhouse

With a light touch, a Connecticut big house–little house configuration is restored after a fire. “Good old noncombustible plaster is what saved the historic house,” says the interior designer. THIS STORY IS ABOUT THE RESCUE of an antique Connecticut farmhouse, which got a sympathetic renovation after a fire. Parts of it were severely damaged from smoke and water. Then, inspections turned up structural problems and areas that needed to be brought up to code. Happily, the main house was mostly intact. A small bath had been added many years ago, upstairs at the end of a hall, and a kitchen put into the old, one-storey ell. “I saw a house with plenty of history to preserve,” says interior designer Sarah Blank, “yet it needed to be made functional for the 21st century.”…

Rebirth of a ca. 1830 Farmhouse

SOAPSTONE, SLATE, AND GRANITE

Would you be surprised to learn that granite is porous and thus needs more upkeep than the others? Or that soapstone used for countertops isn’t soft, like the little soapstone blocks used for carving in art class? • A metamorphic rock, SOAPSTONE is made up primarily of magnesite, dolomite, chlorite, and talc. Steatite is its geological term. Artists’ soapstone, with up to an 80% talcum content, is not the same soapstone used for countertops, with perhaps 30% talc. Because of the talcum, soapstone does have a warmer, softer or silkier feeling than granite, which is quite hard and cold. • Soapstone is completely heatproof—your whole countertop becomes a trivet. As it is nonporous, it is naturally anti-microbial, it’s nearly impervious to staining, and acid doesn’t affect it. It is a…

SOAPSTONE, SLATE, AND GRANITE

A COTTAGE GARDEN

In 2011, disaster struck again as Hurricane Irene caused creeks to rise, inundating village homes. Moving water knocked down the renovated carriage barn, carried fallen trees perilously close to the house, and left up to 30 inches of sandy silt behind. The house needed emergency renovation, the garden a do-over. The garden is a Colonial Revival interpretation. “My clients want low maintenance,” says the designer, “but taking care of my borders is fun for me; the formal structure gives me a sense of calm.” WHEN STEVE Whitesell discovered the hamlet of North Blenheim, in 2009, the area was between disasters. The small village is alongside the Schoharie River in a narrow valley in Upstate New York. In the late 20th century, 25 Greek Revival homes here survived and were listed on the National…

A COTTAGE GARDEN

A DO-IT-YOURSELF WATER FEATURE

Steve Whitesell created his small, ornamental water feature from a galvanized livestock watering trough he bought at an Agway. It’s about 4' x 2', and 18" deep. “These do come in bigger sizes—but I got the largest one that would fit into my tiny car.” Steve positioned the trough next to the stone wall he’d constructed, which is about 5' tall on the garden side and 2 ½' tall on the street side. He dug the hole with a hand shovel, and created a level base with several inches of sandbox sand. The lip of the trough purposely was left several inches above the grade, so that soil and mulch won’t wash in. The small, submersible recirculating pump has a jet to keep the water aerated. Steve says the sound of it…

A DO-IT-YOURSELF WATER FEATURE

STORYBOOK SHOWCASE

Carriage House Door Company Enduring Quality. Timeless Design. Garage doors, shutters, and gates meticulously hand-crafted to your specifications, protecting your one-of-a-kind, period-style home. Made in U.S.A., with unlimited design options, by industry’s most experienced. www.carriagedoor.com/dreamfree Hyland Studio Preferred Vendor of “Storybook Homes”. Custom hand-made leaded glass and stained glass for windows and doors. Traditional Diamond Light Beveled panel to fit any size or shape. Shipping throughout the U.S. 408-748-1806; www.hylandstudio.com Sheldon Slate Products Mining and manufacturing of slate products. Sinks, counters, floor tile, roofing, and monuments. Business from earth to finished product. Custom work a specialty. 207-997-3615 518-642-1280 www.sheldonslate.com Hans Liebscher Custom Copperworks Award winning masterful craftsmanship and fine detailing in venerable copper and bronze. Hand cast bronze and hand tooled copper. Hans is an accomplished master coppersmith with an international reputation for his exceptional craftsmanship. Products…

STORYBOOK SHOWCASE

PERIOD GLAZING DESIGNERS Cummings Architects, Ipswich, MA: cummingsarchitects.com • David Heide Design Studio, Minneapolis, MN: dhdstudio.com WINDOWS Siteline Wood Line windows Jeld-Wen jeld-wen.com • Marvin marvin.com ART-GLASS WINDOW Michael F. Pilla, Mpls., MN: (612) 810-4754 CHANDELIER antique Related Resources Bendheim Glass restorationglass.com Mouthblown window glass for restorations Mon-Ray Inc. monray.com Exterior and interior secondary glazing windows for historic preservation Moon Shadow Glass moonshadowglass.com High-quality decorative etched glass BUNGALOW KITCHEN CABINETS quarter-sawn oak Quality Custom Cabinetry Inc. qcci.com TILE Pratt & Larson prattandlarson.com CHANDELIER LF202 ‘Cottage Small Chandelier’, Vintage Iron Collection Mica Lamps micalamps.com ROLLER SHADE Handwerk Shade Shop thehandwerkshop.com HOOD ‘Canterbury’ with custom details RangeCraft rangecraft.com THEY STILL MAKE Glass House LLC glasshouseusa.com Custom wood hip & pyramid skylights, copper skylights; roof lanterns, solariums, greenhouses Related Resources Albert J. Wagner wagnerandsons.org Chicago roofing specialist creating metal and glass gable and hip skylights for…

“This house wears the frown-face of despair.”—Ruth Cunningham WHAT A RIP-OFF What’s that expression? … “An American Foursquare without its porch is just a cube.” Okay, maybe we made that up. But how true it is. The great advantage of the foursquare massing is economy: the builder gets the most interior space for money spent on foundation, framing, and roof. But it’s the front porch that affords this house type warmth and welcome. A buffer between private house and public sidewalk, the porch or piazza—often full width—extends the box to soften it, providing a family amenity while offering architectural interest. Are the columns classically round, or are they battered piers borrowed from the Bungalow? Is the balustrade shingled, plain, or embellished with sawn cutout boards? Is the tongue-and-groove porch ceiling varnished, or painted…

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